Goal Accomplished!

The photo below was taken at Lake Powell. It was taken August 14th, just after a storm rumbled through. It's a little dark and I need to lighten it up but it's the only photo I have that sort of gives direction to an item on my bucket list that I just recently crossed off.

I love to swim. And I've been pondering on doing a Sprint Triathlon. The one thing however, that's been holding me back, is the swimming section of the race.

In a Novice triathalon you swim 300 meters, in a Super Sprint you swim 400 meters or a quarter mile. Move to a Sprint and the quarter mile turns into nearly a half mile. Jump to an Olympic and you will now be swimming a full mile. If your crazy, the last two options for the elete athletes are, the Half which = 1.2 miles and last but not least a Full Triathlon, which = 2.5 miles. I will never be doing those!

The Bear Lake Brawl which is the race I've been considering would require me to swim a half mile, bike 12.4 miles, and run 3.1 miles. I'm not worried about the biking and the running. It's the swimming that's always kept me questioning. 

Not anymore!

I've been swimming lap distance now for a year. Recently my friend swam two miles in Jackson. I have long wanted to try some long distance open water swimming. I decided at the spur of the moment to go for it while I was in Powell. You don't get better water than in Lake Powell. 

Thankfully that two mile swimmer (my friend) was on the trip with us. I told him I wanted to try it and he said he would happily go with me. He even increased my confidence by loading his canoe with our protective gear, which he towed while he swam right next to me, just in case I needed it. That is a true friend! 

That was it, one canoe floating next to me with my life jacket on board was all I needed for confidence. We got ready and jumped in. 

A mile and a half later, I had swam farther than I ever dreamed I could. I swam with no life jacket, no fins, not even my nose plugs, nope, just me and my thunder thighs dressed in my TYR suit, my swim cap covering my greying head and my trusty goggles planted firmly on my face. 

It took us somewhere around an hour and a half maybe more. Like an idiot, I didn't put my swim watch on before I left, but given the time we got back on the boat, we figured that's was a pretty close guess. 

We swam from our boat out to the channel which is how we figured the distance. We canoed back. 

I can't tell you how good it felt to stand up on a rock clear out in the middle of the main channel of Lake Powell and look back down the canyon at how far I had swam. Our house boat was no where in sight and it took us a while to canoe the long distance home. It felt good to look back over my accomplishment.

While swimming, I used lots of different strokes. I started with the front crawl and when I got tired I flipped to the side stroke, when my muscels started to weaken from that, I rolled over to my back and watched the clouds drift by while I swam on my back, one arm, then the other, reaching high over my head with each consecutive pull. After I grew tired with that, I flipped over to the breast stroke, the one I like to call the frog. I continued changing strokes everytime I felt the urge for relief.

When we finished every muscle in my body was plum worn out, and my right arm felt a little cramped. My spirit however, felt better than it's ever felt before. It feels good to challange yourself and cross over a pre-determined finish line!

After swimming that distance I now have the urge to swim even more. There is one thing missing however ---M U S I C!

Do you like to swim? Do you like to get wet? I love physical activity!!! And I love doing it with music in my ears! Music is motivational for me, and when I'm swimming I miss my tunes horribly. Well, not anymore! Today I made a purchase. I can't wait till they come!

Happy Swimming! By the way, is there anyone who wants to do the Bear Lake Brawl with me?